NJ hospital cleared of service dog complaint

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey hospital didn't discriminate when it refused to accommodate a California man who claimed his 12-pound poodle was a service dog.

New Jersey's Civil Rights Division says the dog failed to receive the type of training associated with a service dog even though it had a tag issued by San Francisco's animal care and control department identifying it as an assistance dog

Authorities in California said the tag was never intended to suggest the animal had been trained and many tags are issued to animals that are not.

Morristown Memorial Hospital refused to allow the dog inside the emergency room and a hospital room in 2013.

New Jersey law says a person accompanied by a properly trained service animal cannot be barred from a public place of accommodation.